Visiting a Farm

This past week the kids and I went to visit a local farm (remember the one I mentioned a few posts back?) and the owner took us around to meet some of the animals.  It was a pretty fascinating tour- they raise only heritage breeds and do things “the old fashioned way.”   You can read more about Dancing Heart Farm at one of these websites.  The pigs are of two varieties:  Old Spot and Tamworths.  The lighter pigs are Old Spot’s and the darker ones are the Tamworths.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful color on a pig?  This guy is named Attila the Ham.  🙂  Love the floppy ears.  M was a little intimidated by their size and I was really suprised at how “furry” the pigs were.  I guess I haven’t been around adults much, just piglets.  M also loved talking about all the animals and was able to feed one of the dairy goats.  There were Spanish Cashmere (sp?) goats up in a higher pasture (apparently very soft and fuzzy).  And then there were the sheep.  You can see the ewes up at the top of the post.  Here is a male enjoying the view and keeping an eye on us!  I look forward to visiting again and learning more about the animals.  We toy with the idea of having a few of our own someday, although our new yard really is too small for anything but a few chickens.  Perhaps we’ll buy some land nearby and raise a few sheep there.  All the talk of sheep has made me want to delve into spinning again.  I pulled out the drop spindle I bought about 2 years ago and went to work.  Though I am no where near consistent, I am alot better than when I started!  The first picture below is what I spun when I first bought the spindle and the second is from the past day or two.  I am more motivated to get a spinning wheel now that I have been spinning a bit.  It is tiring having to stop and wind the yarn every few seconds.  I’ll have to do some research.  I’ll leave you all with a better picture of the two kiddos at Halloween.  Better late than never!

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